


Let the Life support Choke You

by itsnotmyfault



Category: Rockman.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Child Neglet, Heavy Angst, Homophobic Language, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internalized Homophobia, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Minor Character Death, Multi, Netto has ADHD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Poverty, Saito Is trying to be a good big brother, Saito has PTSD, Saito is alive and his own dude, but hes failing kinda, like from everyone even the children themselves, ooc at some points, yee this might get dark if I ever finish it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:33:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25042459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsnotmyfault/pseuds/itsnotmyfault
Summary: Saito will do anything to keep his brother safe. Netto just wants this lonliness to stop. Enznan wants an escape.And Bass? Bass just wants to find out who he is.
Relationships: Forte | Bass/Rockman | Mega Man, Hikari Netto | Lan Hikari & Hikari Saito | Hub Hikari, Hikari Netto | Lan Hikari/Ijuuin Enzan | Eugene Chaud, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, or saito in this case
Comments: 18
Kudos: 27





	1. S- Welcome to My Life

**Author's Note:**

> skeet yeet im alive and ready to write-
> 
> For those of you waiting for tmnt crossover stuff, i am,,, slowly,,, working on it,,,,,
> 
> But here's a idea that's been bouncing around my head for like 6 months. Tell me if you enjoy cuz the fandom for this is almost as dead as bakugan's fandom ngl.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Saito stared out the window, silently wishing that his… coworkers? Partners in crime? It was really unclear. But still, he hoped that they would hurry and finish looting the store before anyone outside noticed what they were doing. Considering how close they struck it last time, Wily would kill them if the police managed to get their hands on anyone else from the gang. 

“Hey, hey. Let’s keep it down now, okay? I’m feelin’ a little trigger happy tonight”, said Guts pointing the barrel of his pistol under the chin of one of the cashiers. He was young, Saito noticed. Couldn’t have been out of highschool. The way the boy’s eyes darted around, pitiful whimpers cutting through the gag, all of it made Saito inwardly cringe. ‘ _ It’s fine,’  _ he told himself.  _ ‘When Mama comes back, I’ll leave this all behind, and no one will ever know.’  _

“Done!” yelled Roll, tying her bag before quickly swinging it over her shoulder. “Let’s go, boys!”

Saito found it strange how Roll and Guts could feign such bravado while doing such terrible things, but he was here for the money, not to ask questions. 

Soon, all three of them were in the car, Gylde taking the wheel as they sped down the streets past the flashes of blue and red. 

“That was a pretty good one,” Roll said, her voice as sickeningly sweet as cotton candy. “We got tons of jewelry.” 

Guts grunted. “Hopefully Wily’s gonna give me a fair share this time. Last time that fuc-”

“Language!” Glyde yelled from the driver’s seat. 

Guts rolled his eyes. “Last time that  _ jerk  _ only gave me like, $150. Who does he think I am?” 

Roll giggled from the back seat. “A dumbass jock who will do anything for $10?”

Guts twirled around from the middle seat, staring harshly at the teen. “You can’t talk about ‘doing anything for money’, Miss-”

“We’re here!” Gylde yelled rather loudly, and the car screeched to a halt in front of the garage they called their ‘base.’ Personally, Saito would call it a dumpster fire, but everyone had their tastes. 

As Roll and Guts went around back to empty the loot, Saito silently followed Gylde as he opened the garage door. Wily was already there, talking to another group. It scared Saito a little just how many young kids were in on this. 

Of course, the moment the grizzled old man could hear the jingling of the jewelry from inside Roll’s bag, his head snapped up and almost shoved aside the others. 

“You have the loot?” he asked, eyes fixated on the bag. 

Roll’s smile grew wider as she held it out for him to take. “All wrapped up and ready to go!”

Wily had the ghost of a smile on his face, before snatching the bag in the blink of an eye and starting to loudly dig through it. 

“Wonderful. I’ll have the money ready for you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?!” Guts cried. “Wily, I need-”

Wily shut him up with a cold glare, the moonlight reflecting in his metal eye. “Tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?” A disturbed grin grew across his face, practically asking Guts to test him. 

Guts didn’t look ready to back down, but deflated nonetheless. “Yes, sir.”

Saito meanwhile, had already started unlocking his bike from the rack, before Roll came stomping over with a pout on her face. “Rock, how come you never hand out with us? We’ve got the whole night to ourselves!”

Saito could barely stop himself from rolling his eyes. “I’ve got other things to do. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” He jumped on his bike and started pedaling as fast as he could before anyone else could ask him any questions. 

Roll huffed. “With an attitude like that, you’d think he has a girlfriend waiting at home or something.”

Guts laughed, slowly trudging back to the car. “Him? He’s off in his own world sometimes it’s hard to believe he pays attention in the real world, let alone a whole person.”

-

Saito arrived at their small apartment at around 11 p.m. He nearly shoved his bike into the small alley before flying up the stairs, heart panicking as he recounted all the emergency exits in their apartment. He nearly ran past his own room number, his hands shaking so much he could barely fit in the key. 

The door flew open, and Saito nearly fell to the rug in relief. But he wasn’t relieved yet. Not until he knew-

“Saito!”

Netto was safe. 

Said boy was standing in the kitchen, leaning against the fridge, perfectly fine, if not for the bags under his eyes. All of the panic and paranoia practically melted away. His brother was safe; all was right in the world. 

_ He had been safe all the other nights as well, but it didn’t stop his heart beating out of his chest every time he reached the front door.  _

“Here’s your dinner,” Netto continued, picking up a plate of curry and placing it on the table. “You probably didn’t eat lunch today,  _ again,  _ so I made yours bigger.”

Saito cringed, hating how well Netto knew him. “You didn’t have to. We need to- 

“ ‘- _ be careful with our money Netto,”  _ Netto interrupted, rolling his eyes. “Just eat your dinner. I’m gonna go to bed.”

“Goodnight, make sure to lock your windows!” Saito yelled as his brother started down the hallway. 

“Make sure to not get malnourished!” Netto yelled back. 

Saito slumped over in the dining chair, hands gripping the spoon as tight as he could. 

_ ‘Day 36 without Mom over, 100 days left to go.’ _

  
  



	2. N-What Is This Feeling?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Netto meets a boy with eggshell hair and has some fun for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I work best at night. Also may or may not be projecting onto every character here but who cares am i right gamers-

Netto’s favorite place in the city right now was the arcade. Sure, he wouldn’t have money to buy his own coins, but he was such a legend that people would get their own coins just to see if they could beat him. He’d spend afterschool wandering around the rows of the machines, offering advice to newcomers and offering to play against those who were looking for a challenge. Netto didn’t like to brag (that was a lie, he  _ loved  _ to show off to those that were asking for it) but he felt like he was an idol in there, like all of the secrets his family was hiding from him or the way he’d skip dinner just to make sure Saito could eat didn’t matter as long as he was in there. This was his real home, his real safespace, his real paradise. 

Today was different however. The moment he walked in, everything around him became a canonaphy of noise. There was yelling, crying, and he was pretty sure he was being pulled by a toddler- oh wait that was Yai. Nonetheless, it was utter chaos. 

“Hey, uh, Yai, what’s going on?” asked Netto, trying to make sense of the world around him. 

“Your title is being threatened by a spoiled rich kid-”

“Since when did you start playing arcade?”

Yai’s face immediately turned red, and Netto couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Not me, you dolt!” She yelled. “There’s this kid with eggshell hair that has been beating everyone since he walked in. He says he’s the best but-”

“-But you need me to prove him wrong,” he finished with a smirk. 

She shrugged. “Basically. He’s at the back air hockey board.I think he’s beating Dex for the 6th time now or something.” 

Netto didn’t need any more than that, running ahead of her. 

Today was going to be a very interesting day. 

* * *

Netto arrived just in time to see Eggshell (dear god, who let the kid out of the house with  _ that  _ hairstyle) score a goal effortlessly against Dex. Netto inwardly cringed. Even though Netto could beat Dex without breaking a sweat, he was still quite good when compared to the other kids there. He felt some pity for Dex, but at the same time-

“S-shut up! You were just lucky, punk!” 

It was hard to feel bad for such a sore loser. 

Eggshell simply flicked his coin in disinterest. “I thought you were supposed to be the champion of this arcade. You were barely a challenge. Although, considering the company you keep, I shouldn’t be too surprised.”

“Harsh,” Netto commented, causing the other two to look at him. “Be even harsher if he was actually the best player in here.”

“Netto!” Dex yelled in relief. “You’re here!”

“Yeah, I am. Maybe next time wait for me before going around calling yourself the best?”

Dex stuck his tongue out, made a ‘I’m watching you’ sign at Eggshell, threw his coins at Netto, and then stumbled away to who knows where.

Eggshell looked him up and down, eyes narrowed. “You do fit the description a lot better, though…I wasn’t expecting a street rat.”

“Wow, ok then. They weren’t kidding when they called you a spoiled brat,” Netto shot back, gripping the coin extra tight. “Best of three?” 

Eggshell sighed. “I suppose.”

* * *

It was  _ supposed  _ to be best of three. Then Netto demanded another round. Then Eggshell demanded another round. Then Netto. Then Eggshell again. At some point, they just stopped asking and slotted the coins in before they had reset the scoreboard. 

It was… fun. 

Not fun in the way that the arcade had made him feel. More like a  _ fun  _ fun. Not this feeling of belonging, but this feeling of enjoyment. It was like- It was like- 

_ It was like before Dad and Mom broke up,  _ some deep corner of his mind whispered. And as much as he wanted to deny it, that was the only way he could describe this feeling without sounding like a broken record. 

But, all good things must come to an end. Eggshell stole a glance at the clock, before freezing completely. Netto, who was about to insert another coin, froze as well as he watched the blood drain from his face. 

“I have to go,” he explained, his voice coming out in a rushed panic frenzy. 

“Will you be back tomorrow?” Netto asked before he could stop himself. 

Eggshell turned his back, eyes wide at him. “I… shall return next week.” 

“Nice,” Netto said awkwardly. “I’ll be waiting for you, uh…”

“Enzan.”

“Netto.”

With that short exchange, Enzan shoved the rest of his coins into his pocket and rushed out the door. Netto watched him every step of the way. 

He didn’t know what this feeling was, but he was going to savor it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you've probably noticed, Netto's chapters are gonna be a lot more wholesome than everyone else's. I don't know how to write romance though because my asexual brain is just like 'i dunno they kiss i guess' but I'll try my best.


	3. Loathing!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enzan finds out why he's so drawn to Netto, and does some research.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wrote another chapter. I think this one is longer than the other two...? Sorry for making a lot of it about plot, but I know you guys don't want to be left in the dark forever. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Enzan ran as quick as he could out of the arcade, making sure to avoid all of the stares he was getting. He couldn’t deal with anyone’s judgment right now, not when he was mentally preparing for the scolding he would get from his father. 

How could he have lost track of time? He never lost track of anything. Not the assignments he had, not the work he hated, not even the galas he hated so much. He was always on top of everything, always above everything. How could he have messed up a simple schedule? 

_ How was he such a failure?  _

Those thoughts continued to rush through his head until he got to the limo, where Blues was waiting. 

“You took longer than usual,” he said, as if he had been 5 minutes late, and not an hour. 

“How can you be so calm about this?! My father is going to kill me!” Enzan almost yelled out. He had things to do! This was supposed to be a two hour break, not three. How could Blues let him waste so much time?

Blues looked out the front window as he started the car. “You had things to do in there as well.”

Eznan sputtered for a moment. “It was an arcade, Blues! My work is far more important than some stupid games!”

“Then why did you stay?”

Enzan froze again, trying to come up with a response. He  _ had  _ no reason. The game was fun, and Netto would’ve learned that Enzan was better than him eventually, even if he had stopped at three like they were supposed to. He didn’t  _ have  _ to go beyond three rounds either. So why did he? Why did he continue to play? Why did he enjoy the fire in Netto’s eyes everytime he lost, and the playful smirk he wore every time he won? Why did he-

“I let you stay because your father has another business meeting,” Blues said suddenly, interrupting the spiral Enzan’s thoughts were taking. “He will not be home until 9.” 

“O-oh,” Enzan stammered out. “Thank you for telling me.”

The rest of the drive was silent as he puzzled over the reason he had stayed so late. 

When he got out of the car, he had narrowed it down to having something to do with Netto. That was the only variable he could not fully rationalize. But  _ what  _ was it about him that pulled him back over and over? 

Those thoughts muddled his head to the point where he had not realized he was already in his room until he had faceplanted onto the bed. He pushed himself off of it immediately, slowly turning to the pages of reports on his desk. He had so much work to do, why was the  _ bed  _ his first option? 

Enzan reread the first page over and over, trying to fully process the words in front of him. 

_ “As such, with the cuts our rival company had made, it is safe to assume that the suppliers of one of their main pieces of the electronics has been significantly downgraded. This has affected their price, but also how long their products lasts. Because of this…”  _

Enzan stared at that particular paragraph, his eyes narrowed. Why was he stuck on this? It was a simple statement about their rival company…

Wait a second. 

Rival company. 

Rival. 

Rival!

That was why he couldn’t stop thinking about Netto! He thought of him as a  _ rival.  _ It was so obvious now. He wanted to fight Netto, wanted to crush his hope, wanted to beat him at every arcade game until that annoying fire in his eyes died out like it had just been doused in water. That was it. Nothing else. 

Enzan leaned back in his chair, mulling over what to do now. Those thoughts about Netto wouldn’t simply stop until that desire to beat him had been fulfilled. Netto was on the same level as him in skill, but in intelligence had yet to be decided. Perhaps manipulating him to play the game when he was not at his best would work? But then it wouldn’t be fair then, and Netto would most likely feel cheated and insist on playing again. 

He closed his eyes, trying to remember how his father dealt with his rivals. Quickly, he pulled out some of the other work his father had given him, trying to see if anything discussed sabotaging a rival. Finally, he spotted a small note his father had given him on one of his papers. 

_ ‘You need to work on researching your opponents and learning what their weakspots are. Here, this company is currently getting their cotton from a farm that has been known for illegal deforestation. If you expose this carefully…”  _

So, he needed to research Netto. Which would be difficult, considering that he still didn’t know the boy’s last name, where he lived, his family history, or anything about him. Which meant he needed to return to that blasted arcade place again. 

His stomach churned. He wasn’t  _ afraid  _ of anyone there or anything. He was just… nervous. Enzan had heard stories about children disappearing, only to return years later as hardened criminals with no remorse. These could have very well had been just rumors meant to keep upper class children from playing with street rats, but something set him… off about that rumor. 

Maybe he should research that instead. 

Enzan slipped the unfinished papers into his desk (as long as his father  _ thought  _ he was working, he hopefully wouldn’t be stuck in that cold, isolating office of his again) and pulled out his laptop. Searching up the street name of the arcade led to a site documenting missing children there. All of them were lower class, poor, or just straight up homeless. Enzan knew that these children were mostly likely dead or in jail, but something just felt so unusual about the page that he couldn’t help scrolling through the list, as if he was looking for someone. 

He quickly pressed back. All of the people he knew (besides Netto, of course) were just as rich as him. He didn’t have anyone he knew wandering those streets. Everyone he had “befriended” was in no place to go missing. 

He scrolled down the search page too, looking for something he couldn’t quite name. And then… 

_ ‘Could the Hikari Incident be linked to the disappearances around…” _

Enzan stared at the page, mouse hovering over the headline. He had heard rumors of the Hikari Incident, but whenever he asked his father, he was quickly shut down and issued a punishment. It confused him, but he learned to not question it after a time. He quickly clicked the link, but not before turning around to make sure no one was watching. 

_ ‘The Hikari family is in hot water after it came out that their eldest son, Saito Hikari, was found with strange substances in their bloodstream and even some nanobots around his heart. Evidence led investigators to believe that their father, renowned scientist Yuichiro Hikari himself was behind the horrid child experimentation. He lost his job almost immediately, and he was divorced soon after. Whether or not any experimentation was done on his younger son, Netto Hikari, is yet to be…’  _

Enzan stared at the image below the paragraph. It was a picture of the family, presumably before the news came out. His heart stopped. One of the boys in the picture looked exactly like the Netto he played against. 

He felt a rising sense of dread in his stomach. His father would never dare to do anything like that. Sure, locking him in an office without anything to do other than work was a bit extreme at times, but he didn’t shove  _ unknown chemicals  _ into his body. How could one do that to their own child, their own legacy? 

Enzan closed the laptop. He had done enough research for today. Tomorrow, he would return and find out just what was going on with the Hikari family. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I might have written Enzan as ooc, but so be it. His issues with his father and the general pressaure of being the next ceo in line is only really explored in the games, and for like 2 arcs. I wanted to focus more on that, so I blended Edgeworth's daddy issues with Enzan's sootyiness and tried my best to deal with the result.


	4. B- Shot Through The Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bass finishes a hit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, showing up 5 months late: HEY EVERYBODY! YOU WANNA SEE SOMEONE DIE?!
> 
> I'm also surprised at how much I feel like my writing's improved over these past five months. It's kinda weird. 
> 
> ALSO TW IF YOU HAVEN'T CHECKED THE TAGS! Someone does die in this chapter, though the body is only mentioned once. Just a heads up.

DenTech City, Bass had realized, was filled with three types of people: the cowards, the rulers, and the blind. 

The cowards were those who followed the herd, who shrieked when the spotlight moved a foot in their direction, who kept their head down and didn’t ask questions. Those who folded to blackmail, those who would flee at the first sight of danger. Bass despised them the most. He was glad most of his targets were cowards. 

The second category, the rulers, were the ones who controlled everything, in the light or not. The crime syndicates that hired Bass from time to time when Wily allowed it. The ones who made sure the coward’s cries were silenced, the ones who kept the public looking away. Bass held no true opinion on them, other than annoyance for the messes he had to clean up at times. 

The blind were the ones he was jealous of. Those who didn’t know, those who had the luxury of not being forced to see the blood and bodies decorating their streets. Those lucky enough to make it big without ever being blackmailed or threatened. Ignorance was their shield and their savior. 

Bass mulled over how many were really blind to the issues plaguing the backstreets, or just never looked back because they knew they’d never be able to look at the city the same way again. 

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang coming from the house his target was in. He braced himself, readying the sniper rifle. 

_ ‘Don’t hit anyone else,’  _ he thought to himself.  _ ‘The less cleanup Wily has to do, the better.’  _

His eyes followed the man as he walked throughout his tiny apartment, calling out to his younger cousin as he laid on the couch. Bass scoffed. This man worked for a criminal organization and yet didn’t bother to shield his loved ones in any way. What a fool. 

His target’s name was Desa Oyoma, otherwise known as “Guts.” He had previously worked for Wily, being one of his many ‘hunters’, or robbers, in layman’s terms. He had only lived in the city for about a year, and only worked for Wily for half of that. It made sense then, why he was brazen when he complained and left the organization with little more than a note. If he had even the foggiest idea of how Wily ran his work, he wouldn’t have ever dreamed of leaving like that. 

People who worked for Wily didn’t leave. Blackmail was collected during their time under his rule, and it wasn’t exactly flattering things. Most people desperate enough to turn to his organization had someone to care about, and Bass was there to make sure they knew how fragile that person was. 

Tonight though, he wasn’t going to shoot another member of the Oyoma family. No, apparently, Desa had gotten under Wily’s nerves enough to be used as an example to the other members. Whatever the reason, Wily wanted him dead tonight. 

And Bass was not one to argue. 

Desa moved from the couch to the kitchen, yelling for someone else in the house while rummaging through the fridge. Bass giggled at the thought of shooting him right then and there, exposing him to the world for the pig he was. But he knew better than that. There was good food in the fridge, and he’d hate to stain it with some mongrel’s blood. And, as little as he cared for the rest of the family, he doubted they would be able to eat anything out of a fridge they found a dead relative in. 

No, he needed a better time. Closer to the window he was aiming out of, close enough to ensure the impossibility of failure. He couldn’t imagine what Wily would make him do if he screwed up something as simple as this. 

He watched with disinterested eyes as his target did the exact opposite of what he needed him to do and moved right back to the living room, bag of chips in hand. Bass was starting to get the feeling he’d be aiming for a while. 

Just when his hands started to tire, his target went back into the kitchen, yelling loud enough for Bass to hear something about the electricity bill. But he tuned that out, instead steadying his hand and narrowing his eyes into his scope. 

Desa began to walk towards the kitchen sink, which just so happened to be the one Bass was closest to. 

He felt a cruel smile begin to play at his lips. His finger inched closer to the trigger. 

The target looked under the sink, still continuing to pollute the air around him with his noise. He stayed like that for a good minute, before standing up again and happened a glance out the window, making direct eye contact with Bass. 

A look of fear washed over his face. A feeling of glee and relief began to build in his chest. 

He pulled the trigger. 

The shot was loud, louder when it crashed through the fragile glass shattered into pieces, loudest when the body hit the floor and screams began to echo throughout the building. By the time anyone could even see what had happened, Bass had already left the roof, rifle stuffed into his cape. He ran the opposite way, hiding behind rooftop entrances and heaters whenever the telling colors of red and blue passed him by. He needed to stay clean, even if no one in this city knew his name. 

(He didn’t know his own name, but he’d rather not think about that.) 

After running for an hour or so, he felt far enough away to call Wily. He clicked on his ear piece, waiting for the old man to pick up. 

Soon, an annoyed and sleepy voice echoed in his ear. 

_ “The job’s done?”  _

“Yes,” he answered. “He’s dead and I got out of there before they even saw the body.” 

_ “Good, good. Head back to base. I have another mission for you.”  _

“Already?” he asked before he could stop himself. “I wasn’t aware I was carrying out two hits tonight.” 

_ “You’re not, Bass. I’m not stupid. I wouldn’t run you ragged like that. And it’s not a hit either.”  _

He paused at that. His work was only ever hits and on the rare occasions, gathering blackmail. Wily rarely had him do that though, usually using his other teams to get that particular dirty work done. 

“If I may ask, what am I supposed to be doing?” 

He heard a familiar chuckle on the line. That sick laugh when everything was going exactly how it should be. 

_ “Say Bass, have you ever worked in a team?”  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we now have:   
> Saito "god can i please have one good day" Hikari  
> Netto "im just here for a good time not a long time" Hikari  
> Enzan "edgeworth kinnie but its his biological dad this time" Ijuuin  
> Bass "haha head go pop" Wily
> 
> Next chapter we go back to Saito's POV and feel the ramifications of Guts' death. Fun times!


End file.
